Playing the marijuana dealer Percy in The Wackness (out in August) may not have been the greatest stretch in rapper/actor Method Man's career (You may remember him from the 2001 epic drama How High), but when he chatted with reporters recently he proved that his music, at least, has lots of range.

Q: Looked like you had a great time in this film.

A: Yeah I sure did.

Q: Did you sort of create your own character?

A: I think all actors, kind of in their own little, put their own little stamp on each character. So yeah I like to think I did, yeah, you know.  He, Percy, is not even a complicated dude. It’s just what it is: I wake up, I sell marijuana, I smoke weed, I go to sleep, period.

Q: Tough life, poor Percy...Every actor wants to be in music and every guy who is in music wants to be an actor, how did you score both?

A: It kind of fell in my lap.  I remember when we first started out and they were doing a little movie called Above the Rim, and the guy who directed it and we were uptown long after, and I stood outside just to be an extra because I wanted to see Tupac walk out of this theater.  When Leon walked out of the theater, I left. I was like, I was through with this extra s*?#. I walked off. The first opportunity for a movie I got was a movie called The Great White Hype, and it had a bunch of actors, Sam Jackson, Damien Waynes. It was directed by the Hubbard brothers. Peter Berg also played in that movie, and I auditioned for a movie called Copland after that, and Peter Berg happened to be the guy in the scene with me. [He] put in a good word for me, I got that role, and everything just started falling into place.  I did one with Sam Jackson...nice.

Q: That’s great. So if you had to pick between music and film, music?

A: Music no question. Music, music. I love the creative control I have, plus there is no feeling in the world like standing on the stage, 40,000 plus singing the words to a song you wrote.

Q: You were walking up the hall and you were listening to some music. Were you listening to yourself?

A: No, I was listening to the Gym Class Heroes.

Q: So is that who you’ve been listening to a lot lately? Who else have you been listening to?

A: Tom Waits.

Q: No way.

A: At the Diner, yes. And a little Joe Cocker.  I’m going real far back now because these Saturday Night Live DVD’s, you know, first season, second season...I’m on the third season now and a lot of those musical acts were phenomenal on there, man. People that I’ve never put a face to the music before, and now I have a face and I’m like, "Jesus, he sings that?"  And I mean Joe Cocker: “What would you do if I sang out of tune?”  He’s got Down’s Syndrome or something when he goes into his little act and stuff, you know what I mean? And I had no idea he was a white British dude.  And even when I seen him I was still like...

Q: So is that stuff going to influence your music at all?

A: Yeah of course, yes, yes, yes. Especially Tom Waits because Tom Waits will sit there, and he’ll write the most beautiful line, and right after that the next line would be about a hooker, and that’s Tom Waits.

Q: That’s great, I can’t wait to hear it. Thanks very much.